The fun and adventure of party planning for me is re-imagining what I have on hand. Then I work to stretch my dollar to impossible limits.  Planning our Mermaid Beach Party Decorations was no exception.

Games and party favors welcome guests and set the stage for vintage beach party fun.

We tried to create a relaxed mermaid themed party at a local beach for my daughter Ava’s 5th birthday. We wanted to keep the party simple and give the kids a fun day with the surf and sand as the big draw. For this bash, favors and games doubled as decorations for the party.

The beach itself needed no embellishment. However, this was a little girl’s party and I wanted to create an atmosphere of whimsy.

My husband created old-fashioned directional beach signs. Ava and younger sister Sophie painted the boards with left over paint from the girls’ bedrooms.  I used hemp rope to tie the sun bleached starfish from our bathroom to the signs to amp up the beachy vibe.

Hand painted signs give the party a vintage vibe.

My favorite project from the party was making table cloths with my birthday girl. Ava made hand prints along the top and bottom edge of four, 7-foot sections of paper. With palms facing each other, her prints became happy beach crabs.  We borrowed a phrase from the Little Mermaid to add an extra dose of personality to our table cloths.

Hold table cloths down with hemp rope tied around garden stones. Tuck drink parasols into some of the knots; the rocks look like small floating islands.

We marked the path to our pavilion with colorful sand buckets. The buckets doubled as favors for the guests to use at the party.

The buckets added a pop of color, welcomed guests and held the party favors.

As guests arrived we took their picture in our home-made cut-outs. It was a great way to greet everyone. We tucked the photos into the Thank You notes after the party.

We had cardboard to spare for this party, thanks to a few unexpected purchases for the house.

We recycled a large piece of cardboard to create a “Toss the Pearl into the Oyster” carnival style game. We propped the board up near a pair of a palm trees to mark the outer side of our party area. It served as a whimsical backdrop, and gave the kids another party game.

The decorations for this party were less than $15!! The largest cost was the long roll of paper used for the table cloths. The buckets came in at an incredible $.20 a piece!

We were at a public beach but our little homemade touches helped create a deserted tropic isle atmosphere. It was a magical morning for all of us watching the wee dolphins and mermaids swim just off shore!

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jessica hehir